City of Wanneroo outlines position on State Govt’s Perth Transport Plan

SUBMISSIONS for the State Government’s Transport @ 3.5 Million – the Perth Transport Plan for 3.5 Million People and Beyondcloses next Friday.

Transport Minister Bill Marmion said the Government had received more than 400 submissions since its launch in July.

Endorsed by the council earlier this month, the City of Wanneroo’s submission said it needed a “more strategic long-term approach” with a focus on the central sub-region and proposals in the north west sub-region centred on plans that were already in place.

“The current proposed network lacks consideration of connections to and within the outer metropolitan Perth, including many significant growth areas in the City of Wanneroo,” the submission said.

It pointed to areas such as the Wangara industrial area, the Girrawhween-Koondoola and Wanneroo housing precincts, and the northern coastal growth corridor from Alkimos to Two Rocks.

The submission said transport infrastructure needed to cater for the City’s projected population of 376,486 extra people by 2050, and the need to create 186 per cent more jobs locally.

“Major transport infrastructure and improved connectivity within the region is therefore required to deliver adequate employment self-sufficiency levels and to reduce congestion and overcrowding of the existing network,” it said.

The City also asked that the plan support the development of Yanchep as a strategic metropolitan centre by prioritising the Mitchell Freeway and northern rail extensions to the suburb, and reinstate timing to deliver the latter by 2020.

It asked that the government acknowledge private-public partnerships as a preferred funding model, recommended the northern rail line be renamed Yanchep once the extension was built and sought commitment for a future heavy or light rail link from Yanchep to Two Rocks.

At the October council meeting, councillor Dianne Guise said the plan’s central focus ignored housing affordability and job creation in outer suburbs.

“There is the recognition that in the future Yanchep is a strategic centre,” she said.

“This is going to be a city at the end of the line; it’s also an economic hub.

“To delay (Yanchep rail) from 2020 to 2031 will have a substantial social and economic impact on our sub-region.

“This will lead to major congestion on north-south roads.”

The submission said the plan should make provision for a future regional airport or port within the northwest sub-region.

It also called for detailed staging that aligned infrastructure provision with population growth “to provide certainty around the expected timeframes for delivery”.

“The key concern for council is the lack of certainty over staging and timing,” Mayor Tracey Roberts said.

“We need them to give us some timeframes.”

Regarding the proposed east Wanneroo rail link, it said the alignment should go through the future east Wanneroo urban area, with stations there and in Neerabup before it connects to the northern line in Clarkson.

“The route should be aligned through the Neerabup industrial area, to facilitate development of a Herdsman Business Park type of development around the station in that area,” it said.

Cr Brett Treby said the rail alignment shown in the plan, along the eastern side of east Wanneroo, would require a bus network to take people from the future urban areas to the train station.

Instead, he said the station ought to follow design principles used to locate the Butler Station within the suburban area.

In relation to the Whiteman to Yanchep highway alignment, the submission said the route through east Wanneroo should be investigated soon to allow further planning of the area, and the northern section should align directly to Yanchep.

It recommended government remove the “green bridge” proposed pedestrian and cycling link over Lake Joondalup from the plan because it could detract from other projects.

Supporting the submission, Cr Linda Aitken said she believed “some vital infrastructure could be brought forward”.

As the Liberal candidate for Butler, she said getting the train to Yanchep was “a high priority along with installation of stations at Eglinton and Alkimos”.

“This plan gives the City of Wanneroo a blueprint for the future of our community,” she said.

Cr Dot Newton said people in Wanneroo had been asking for a train line to Yanchep since about 1908.

“How visionary was that; and we still don’t have one,” she said.

The Perth Transport Plan aims to ensure Perth’s bus network, rail links, roads and cycleways grow to cater for a population when it reaches 3.5 million people, and beyond 2050.

Visit www.transport.wa.gov.au/transportplan or email submissions to transportplan@transport.wa.gov.au by October 28.